About Technical Learning Consultants

Technical Learning Consultants operates on three basic principles:

1. Technical knowledge can be presented in a structured, visual way that helps people to understand it, apply it, and develop their technical skills. This knowledge and the need for technical skills are growing rapidly.

2. Companies and customers need to acquire technical knowledge and be able to access it on demand. Technical knowledge and skills are a primary competitive advantage.

3. Computers and commonly available software are excellent tools to help people learn technical knowledge and skills. People don't need to be computer experts to use computers.

Our first clients were manufacturing companies. These early projects taught production workers to operate production lines and machines.

However, no one ever learned how to run a production line or a machine just by clicking though computer screens. Technical knowledge is in the hands, the eyes, and the ears. Computer-based training must be accompanied by hands-on coaching and practice sessions – an approach now called "blended learning." We help you develop these learning systems within your organization.

The following documents outline ways to evaluate the importance of your company's technical knowledge, and begin capturing it.

How Do You Assess the Value of Technical Knowledge?

How Do You Get Started?

Our projects begin with the question, "What do you want the user to know and be able to do after he or she experiences this?” We describe the user. We specify the desired outcome. We want to measure those outcomes if possible.

Quantifying the return on the learning investment helps you build a business case for future projects.

We are technical learning consultants. That means we consult with you about how to Identify the technical knowledge that is important to you. We then work with your subject matter experts to Gather, Structure and Visualize that knowledge so others (a customer, an installer, a salesperson, a nurse, an engineer, an employee) can Access that knowledge and Apply it. We also help your organization Improve your technical knowledge base.

Our major clients are interested in creating and maintaining computer-based learning systems for their technical knowledge. Our job is to get you started.

In our first project with you, we try to minimize the time and effort you have to invest. In later projects, we can continue to minimize your investment, or, if you wish to take over our work, we will show you our tools and methods, and provide only those services that aren't cost-effective for you to maintain.

We believe we can turn your technical knowledge to competitive advantage. To that task, we bring the passion of a teacher; the precision, technical knowledge, and logical problem-solving of an engineer; and the eye of an artist.

Clients